Rise of Another “Right Wing” Party

When I saw headlines about the impending victory of a “right wing extremist” party in Switzerland, I knew the immigration issue had reared its head again. Nowadays, the only political position that can get you labeled as an “extremist” in Europe is advocacy of curbs of any kind on immigration.
Sure enough, the Swiss People’s Party got over 27% of the vote in the election that has just been completed, the largest percentage received by any Swiss party in decades. The election campaign was marked by controversy; not only was there the usual consternation over the rise of a “right wing” party, the United Nations actually tried to intervene in the election. The U.N.’s High Commissioner for Refugees denounced the People’s Party’s campaign ads as “xenophobic.” These are “some of the worst elections ads we